Men as Trees, Walking

The text

And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Mark 8:22–26 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the sermon

The two-stage healing at Bethsaida is treated as an acted parable of a very common spiritual condition. There are people who are no longer blind — they have seen the emptiness of the world, they are drawn to Christ, they sense that He is somehow the Saviour — and yet nothing is in focus. They see men as trees, walking. They are not certain whether they are converted at all, and their uncertainty makes them miserable.

Lloyd-Jones is candid about where the fault usually lies. Some people prefer a vague, undefined religion to precise biblical truth. Some submit to Scripture only in part and mix it with the ideas of the age. Some positively dislike doctrine, imagining it to be the enemy of real spirituality. Some take the truths of the gospel in the wrong order — seeking the new birth, for instance, before they have understood the atonement. And evangelists who hurry people into premature professions share the blame.

The cure avoids two opposite errors. The half-seeing man must not pretend to a clarity he does not have, and he must not give up in despair. Like the blind man he must answer Christ's question honestly — this is what I see and this is what I do not — and then submit to further treatment. Christ never leaves a work half done. Full sight, and the assurance that comes with it, is given to those who keep coming to Him in His Word until they see every man clearly.

Key points

• There is a real intermediate stage between blindness and clear sight; many believers live in it.
• Such people lack, at the same time, clear doctrine, an engaged heart and a surrendered will.
• Distaste for doctrine, partial submission to Scripture and a wrong order of truths keep them there.
• The two temptations are to claim full sight prematurely or to give up altogether.
• The cure is honest self-report before Christ and complete submission to His further touch.

Illustrations the preacher uses

• The disciples worrying about literal bread when Jesus warned them of the leaven of the Pharisees (Mark 8:14–21).
• A distinguished London surgeon who abandoned his practice in disgust with worldly ambition, yet ended in cynicism rather than faith.
• The Bethsaida miracle itself, deliberately performed in two stages.

Related Scripture

• Mark 8:14–21
• Matthew 5–7
• 1 Corinthians 13

For reflection and discussion

1. Can you identify anything in Christianity that you 'see' but not clearly? What exactly is out of focus?
2. Why does an aversion to doctrine leave a person in spiritual confusion rather than in freedom?
3. What would it mean, practically, to submit to Christ's 'further treatment' through Scripture in the coming month?